The APANJ joins law enforcement agencies, prosecutors and the greater public across the country mourning the senseless death of George Floyd while in the custody of officers of the Minneapolis Police Department. We share in the immeasurable pain caused by this tragedy. We also understand the integral role we play in the furtherance of justice and we renounce all forms of harmful and unfair treatment against anyone that comes into contact with the criminal justice system. We also reaffirm our trust that participants within that system will seek out the truth in this case and achieve justice swiftly and fairly. The family of George Floyd deserves nothing less.

As public servants called upon to uphold the law, we reaffirm our commitment to be true to the words of New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal – to respect the “Reservoir of Trust” bestowed upon us by the citizenry and to never do or say anything that undermines their trust.

We further recognize that our society cannot tolerate any act or perceived act of racism, racial bias, nor any disparate treatment of criminal suspects based on any protected class status. Such actions are morally wrong and their occurrence in our communities or among public safety personnel continue to set our nation back, reopen old wounds and cause irreparable pain.

Now more than ever, we need to support and protect the men and women in law enforcement who strictly adhere to their oaths and serve their communities honorably and justly, especially in the face of the extraordinary challenges that make community policing even more difficult and dangerous.

That is why we applaud New Jersey’s Office of the Attorney General’s ongoing efforts to mandate the creation and implementation of Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) Training for every county in this state. The Assistant Prosecutors’ Association of New Jersey supports our law enforcement officers having access to the most up to date and effective training and resources that will enable them to protect and serve all individuals living in our communities.

May we all continue to learn from this experience and may we recognize that despite the progress our society has made, we cannot wait any longer for incidents like this to stop.

“Justice Is Blind” cannot be an aspiration or mere words on a statue; it must be true in our everyday experience.

Together we extend our sincere condolences to the family of George Floyd. We commit to them our firm resolve that their loved one will not have died in vain but that his death will serve as a catalyst for permanent change and will instill in all of us a renewal of purpose in the pursuit of justice and equality for all and intolerance to all forms of mistreatment and dehumanization.

David V. Calviello,

President, APANJ